My Wife Found Me a Burden, So I Dated Her Best Friend

After I was paralyzed in the car accident, my wife grew colder and colder toward me.

She nitpicked everything, lost patience with me, and was always texting other people on her phone.

One time she went to pick up my medicine and forgot to bring her phone.

I glanced at the screen, which was still on.

The other person was a man saved in her contacts as "Regret."

The two of them were chatting away, their words getting more and more flirty and explicit.

When she came back to the ward, she tossed the medicine on the table.

"I've got something to do. I'm heading out for a bit."

"Ava will come take care of you."

I asked, "Why do you always have your best friend look after me?"

She didn't answer. She just turned coldly and left.

Soon the two friends' conversation drifted in from outside the ward.

"Brooklyn, you're always going behind Rupert's back to see your first love."

"Is that fair to him?"

"He got hit and ended up like this saving you..."

Faced with Ava's question,

Brooklyn said indifferently, "He's already paralyzed. His life's over."

"I have to think about the rest of mine."

"I've taken care of that nuisance this long."

"I've done more than my share."

Ava was quiet for a moment, then asked, "You keep asking me to take care of him."

"Aren't you afraid we'll fall for each other over time?"

Brooklyn laughed.

"You like this cripple?"

"He's all yours, then."

...

Brooklyn's words came down like a heavy hammer, striking a crack into my heart.

Back then, when that speeding truck came at us,

she was the one who should have been left paralyzed.

But I saved her at the cost of my own body.

I took the hit instead, trading my paralysis for her safety.

I thought that with what we felt for each other,

no matter which of us it happened to,

neither of us would ever abandon the other.

But I never expected this.

It had barely been any time at all.

And she already saw me as a nuisance.

She couldn't wait to hand me off to someone else.

Not long after,

the two friends finished talking.

Ava pushed open the ward door.

She was a bit shorter than Brooklyn, but her proportions were just right.

Add to that her fair skin and her good nature,

and she was the prettiest of all Brooklyn's friends.

She came over to my bedside and made a face at me.

When she saw me smile,

she gave the thermos in her hand a little shake.

"Guess what I brought you?"

"Chicken soup?"

"Nope. I made you seafood chowder, just for you."

I couldn't move my arms or legs.

So she wrapped her arms around me and helped me sit up.

We were pressed so close together

that the sweet scent of her kept drifting into my nose.

"It's a little hot. Let me blow on it for you."

She gently blew on the spoonful of chowder.

Then she brought the cooled chowder to my mouth.

After I swallowed,

she asked me eagerly, "Is it good?"

I nodded.

"Hehe, it's my first time making it."

"I was worried you wouldn't like it."

After I finished the chowder,

she brought over a basin of water like before and skillfully wiped my body down with a towel.

The whole time, I didn't say a word.

She seemed to sense that something was weighing on me,

because she kept telling me jokes.

When she saw I still wasn't laughing,

she finally couldn't help asking, "Rupert, what's wrong with you today?"

I stared straight at the towel in her hand.

A bitter smile slowly spread across my face.

"This is something she should be doing."

"You're a single girl."

"If people found out you were wiping down a man's body,"

"it would ruin your reputation."

"Don't bother."

"You should go."

Such a wonderful girl.

I didn't want a little idle gossip to destroy her.

And yet,

sweet, beautiful Ava kept wiping my body down, not caring in the least.

"People's mouths are their own. If they want to gossip, there's nothing I can do about it."

"I'm willing to help you wipe you down. That's all."

I stared blankly at Ava.

She didn't seem to be joking.

If anything, she wiped my body down even more carefully.

Even some of the more sensitive spots.

She didn't shy away from any of it.

"This... isn't this improper?"

"Come on, if I'm not embarrassed, what are you embarrassed about?"

"If you feel like you owe me."

"Once you're back on your feet."

"Just treat me to a meal."

Ava was so easy to be around.

For the next few days.

She was the one at the hospital taking care of me.

Brooklyn seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth.

Not a trace of her.

Ava called her again and again.

Only then did she agree to come by the hospital.

But the moment she walked in.

As if she'd sensed something, Ava shot up and blocked my view.

Then she pushed Brooklyn back out the door.

"Brooklyn, what are you doing?"

"You disappear for days."

"And you show up with hickeys all over your neck?"

"What if Rupert sees that?"

"Aren't you afraid it'll upset him?"

Ava had kept her voice very low.

But I still heard it.

Then.

Brooklyn's careless voice came through: "What do I have to be afraid of? If I've got the nerve to do it, I'm not afraid of him seeing it."

"Brooklyn, you've changed."

"How have I changed?"

"Ever since Rupert's accident."

"Your heart's changed."

"Maybe."

She paused.

Brooklyn went on, "My dear girl, you need to have a little sympathy for me. I'm only twenty-seven this year. And him? He's lying paralyzed in a hospital bed, needing someone to help him just to relieve himself."

"I'm young, in the prime of my life, burning like the sun. Do you want me to spend the rest of it tied to him, and end up a lonely widow?"

"I'm not like you. You're frigid, so it's fine for you to go without sex."

"If I go a few days without it, I get restless, my whole body feels off."

"Forget it. You wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you."

"I came here today to make things clear with him."

"I want a divorce."

At the word "divorce."

Ava cried out, "Brooklyn, are you insane?"

"Rupert's in this state now."

"And you're asking him for a divorce?"

Brooklyn's tone grew colder and colder. "If I don't leave, am I supposed to stay by his side for the rest of my life?"

"He was paralyzed saving you."

"How can you live with yourself?"

"Please."

Brooklyn said indifferently, "Did I ask him to save me?"

"He's the one who insisted on saving me."

"Did I beg him to?"

"You..."

Ava was so furious she didn't know what to say.

Brooklyn couldn't be bothered to argue.

She pushed past Ava and walked into the room.

Seeing me smiling.

She rolled her eyes, then pulled a divorce agreement out of her bag and tossed it onto the hospital bed.

"Rupert Simmons, I want a divorce."

"Sign it."

Ava had chased into the ward and hurried over.

"Rupert, Brooklyn's just joking with you."

"I'm not joking. I'm completely serious."

I said nothing. I just looked calmly at Brooklyn.

"My hands can't move. I can't see what the agreement says."

"Useless. Can't even hold a piece of paper."

Brooklyn cursed, but she stepped forward, picked up the agreement, and read it aloud to me.

When she got to the part about the entire insurance settlement going to her.

Before I could say anything.

Ava couldn't help but ask, "Brooklyn, you want to divorce Rupert and take all the money too?"

"He still has to stay in the hospital, still needs treatment, still needs"

Brooklyn cut her off impatiently.

"I'm divorcing him. As a man, shouldn't he compensate me?"

"I'm only taking a few hundred thousand from him. It's not like I'm taking his life."

"This is only what a man owes me."

"As for treatment..."

Brooklyn's eyes were cold as she looked me up and down.

A sneer curled at her lips. "Honestly, in the state he's in now, is there even any point in treating him?"

"You"

Ava was shaking all over with anger.

Brooklyn shrugged. "What? I asked you to look after him for a few days."

"And you've already developed feelings for each other?"

Ava's face went dark.

"Don't talk nonsense. I was only trying to help. How can you accuse me like that?"

"It doesn't matter."

"If you like him, take him."

"But let me warn you."

"He's crippled for the rest of his life."

"If you really end up with him."

"You'll regret it."

Having said that, Brooklyn didn't wait for Ava to answer.

She pulled a prepared ink pad out of her bag.

"Your hand can't move, so you can only use a fingerprint signature."

"Let me press it for you."

She grabbed my fingers and coated them in the ink.

Then she stamped my fingerprint onto the agreement.

Seeing her plan succeed.

Brooklyn happily tucked the agreement into her bag.

Then she shot me and Ava a glance.

"Don't contact me again."

"Whether he lives or dies is none of my business."

Before she left.

She smiled and patted Ava on the shoulder.

"My dear best friend, you're so worried about Rupert Simmons."

"His crippled life is in your hands now."

"I wish you both happiness."

Just as she was about to step out of the ward.

I asked her, "Did you plan to divorce me all along?"

Brooklyn stood at the door and looked back at me.

The corners of her mouth slowly curved up.

"There's no room for a cripple in my world."

"But I did it to save you..."

"I never asked you to save me."

"That was your own wishful thinking."

"You're my wife. Was it wrong of me to save you?"

"Mr. Simmons, don't talk nonsense. Who's your wife?"

"You've already put your fingerprint on the agreement."

"From now on, please call me Miss Stephens."

Brooklyn turned and walked away without hesitation.

Ava was afraid I might do something rash.

She hurried to comfort me.

"Rupert, it's okay. Brooklyn's probably just in a bad mood."

"She was only joking with you..."

I closed my eyes.

"I'm a little tired. You should go too."

I thought Ava would leave.

Then I woke up and opened my eyes.

Only then did I see her slumped against my hospital bed, asleep.

Peeled fruit was laid out on the table.

Along with a change of underwear.

I looked at her tired, sleeping face.

Just then a nurse came in on her rounds.

I gestured for her to keep it down, so as not to wake Ava.

The nurse asked me in a low voice, "Did you scold Miss Pruitt?"

I was startled, then shook my head. "No."

"She cried all night, but she was afraid of waking you, so she didn't dare cry out loud."

"A girl as good as herdon't let her down."

"As for that wife of yours..."

"Compared to her, she doesn't even come close."

I sat stunned for a few seconds, then gave a soft hum.

When dawn broke, Ava opened her eyes and woke to find herself lying in the bed.

And in a man's arms, no less.

She was completely dazed.

She saw me watching her with a smile.

Her whole body went stiff as she asked, "How... how did I end up in the bed?"

"I had the nurse lift you up here to sleep."

"Huh?"

Ava's pretty face turned red all the way to her ears.

She scrambled out of bed and quickly fixed her hair and collar.

"I'll go get some water to help you wash your face."

She hurried off with the basin.

At the water station, she happened to run into the night-shift nurse just getting off work.

She hesitated, then called out to her.

"Nurse Hansen, were you the one who carried me onto the bed last night?"

Nurse Hansen shook her head. "No."

"You... you didn't?"

Ava was even more bewildered, murmuring, "Then how did I end up in the bed?"

When she got back to the room.

Ava found the hospital bed empty.

She remembered the nurse talking about a patient who had jumped from the building a while back, and her face changed in an instant. The basin slipped from her hands and clattered to the floor, water splashing everywhere. Her eyes reddened at once, and the tears poured down uncontrollably.

"Rupert, please, don't jump!"

She turned to go looking for Rupert Simmons.

And suddenly bumped straight into a man's arms.

She cried out, and when she looked up.

She was stunned to find.

The man she'd been so worried about was standing right in front of her, holding a bouquet of flowers.

He gently reached out and wiped away her tears.

"Why are you crying?"